Prakash Belawadi

Prakash Belawadi is an Indian theatre artist, film director, television and media personality, who's also a teacher, activist and a journalist. He hails from Bangalore. He has participated in many seminars, conferences and festivals in India and abroad. He is a motivational speaker at events and TEDx conferences. He is also a mentor with the founding team of BISFF (Bengaluru International Short Film Festival) since 2010. Early life Belawadi was born into a family of theatre artists in Bangalore, in the erstwhile Mysore State (now Karnataka). His father, Belawadi Nanjundaiah Narayan (1929–2003) popularly known as Makeup Nani, was a personality in Kannada theatre, who also appeared in films, and worked as a make-up artist. His mother, Bhargavi Narayan, was a renowned film and theatre artiste. His siblings Sujata, Sudha and Pradeep, and nieces and nephews are also variously connected with theatre, music, television and cinema. He completed his elementary education at Mahila Seva Samaja, higher school education in National High School, following which he completed his pre-university course at National College, Bangalore. He obtained a degree in mechanical engineering from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in 1983, Awards Prakash Belawadi's debut film Stumble, which he wrote and directed, won the National Award for Best Film in the English language, 2003. He was conferred ‘Pratibha Bhushan’ in 2003 by the Government of Karnataka for his contribution to culture. He was recipient of Karnataka Nataka Academy Award (2011–12) for his contribution to English and Kannada-language theatre, and He was awarded the ‘Pride of Karnataka’ by Bangalore Round Table (2015),. He was the ‘Varshada Kannadiga’ (2015) in the field of entertainment, conferred by News 18 Kannada. He was given Helpmann Award, Australia (2019) for Best Actor, Male in the play 'Counting and Cracking', Belvoir St. Theatre, Sydney".